Annie Proulx's The Shipping News is full of effective, vigorous, powerful fragments.
Jane Saral
>>> [log in to unmask] 10/12/05 18:32 PM >>>
There are lots of great fragments in fiction. Kurt Vonnegut's final sentence for Slapstick, for example, is "And so on." Actually, it's his final paragraph. My personal favorite use of fragments is the opening of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World: A two sentence paragraph with no verbs at all! It's a subtle use of tone to lead the reader into the major themes of the novel.
I do think, however, that using fragments in non-fiction requires much more skill (finesse?). One of our challenges as teachers of writing is to know when to accept and when to reject fragments in our students' papers. I don't believe that there are any easy "rules" for making these decisions.
Paul D>
Edward Vavra <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Christine,
I don't see your question as being off topic. Indeed, I see it as being extremely relevant to this list. I must admit to having skipped much of the theoretical discussion that has been going on, but I did note a post regarding "older" teachers * who do teach grammar, as opposed to the "younger" teachers who are basically unprepared to teach it. Your question is probably most important for the younger group (although some older teachers also have a problem).
In essence, I would say that both versions that you give are acceptable. Someday KISS grammar will deal with this type of question much better than it now does, but essentially KISS tries to distinguish between acceptable and non-acceptable fragments in terms of their effect of the readers' processing of the sentence. Although the question is complex, unacceptable fragments lead a reader to expect more in a sentence, and then simply stop. (This is based on the KISS psycholinguistic model.) In the examples you give, however, "Deeply hurt." simply repeats the ending of the preceding sentence, and it is very short. No reader would, I think, be confused by it.
The KISS "On-line Resource Books" are set up to address " Breaking the Rules." See, for example, http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/LPlans/G08_BWB2.htm#Fragments
I have not found a "real text" example comparable to the one you give, but eventually similar examples will end up in the books.
Although there is a lot that could be said about the question, from my perspective, the most important point is that some teachers slavishly hunt down and mark fragments, thereby adding to the angst of students.
Ed
>>> [log in to unmask] 10/12/2005 11:52 AM >>>
I've been following this thread with interest. This is off topic really, but
I'm curious about something. Does anyone ever punctuate like this?
I am hurt, deeply hurt.
Instead of like this.
I am hurt. Deeply hurt.
What is happening is really just a repetition of the verb with the adverb
added.
Does anyone ever write like this and use a repeated verb with a comma?
I am mad, mad, mad about him.
We're seeing more and more fragments used for effect in professional
writing, and I'm not really opposed to it. I am guessing that the period
sets them off and makes them more forceful. I'm just curious about this.
--
Christine Reintjes Martin
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----Original Message Follows----
From: Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
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